Friday, September 18, 2009

Language Lessons by Alexandra Teague


I’m happy that contemporary poetry is available online at a number of different websites. Here are some of my favorite sites where you’ll find quality poetry on the Internet: The Poetry Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, Favorite Poem Project, Poetry 180, American Life in Poetry.

Today, I have a poem from American Life in Poetry, an initiative of Ted Kooser, the 2004-2006 Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.

Language Lessons
by Alexandra Teague

The carpet in the kindergarten room
was alphabet blocks; all of us fidgeting
on bright, primary letters. On the shelf
sat that week's inflatable sound. The th
was shaped like a tooth. We sang
about brushing up and down, practiced
exhaling while touching our tongues
to our teeth.

You can read the rest of the poem here.


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At Wild Rose Reader, I have some personal poetry news—and I talk about posting original poems at my blog in Blogging My Poetry.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Becky’s Book Reviews.

3 comments:

jama said...

Oh, what a moment. A good poem!

Elaine Magliaro said...

Jama,

That poem has quite the surprise ending, doesn't it? A good poem about a child's innocence and how things are perceived.

Tricia said...

I love American Life in Poetry. It's like receiving a gift every Monday in my mailbox.

Thanks for sharing this poem. I love the ending.